BIRT Viewer - upgrade for IE8 +https://www.eclipse.org/forums/index.php/mv/msg/388413/927807/#msg_927807
I am providing a BIRT POC which includes use of the sample viewer and frameset mapping. I am having some issues because I need to add a specific date picker (javascriptcalendar.org/javascript-date-picker.php) already in use by the business to the date type parameter boxes. Having added the picker it works great in Chrome and Firefox. It is with IE that I ran into problems. In IE8 the picker did not work at all and in IE7 it displays behind subsequent parameters on the param pop up page.

I found that BIRT viewer forces IE7 mode at line 47 of FramesetFragment.jsp file using the following code:

<META HTTP-EQUIV="X-UA-Compatible" CONTENT="IE=EmulateIE7">

I have tested the removal of the IE7 code in FramesetFragment.jsp and updating AbstractBaseReportDocument.js as suggested by Emmanuel (http://www.eclipse.org/forums/index.php/mv/msg/243393/740215/). Apart from a small styling issue on the picker it seems to work now, in all browsers. I can 'fix' the IE8 picker issue by removing the line above and by modifying a date picker condition to assign CSS classes based on IE version, so now they are assigned the same way no matter what. My picker works fine in Chrome and Firefox, now works in IE8 ... but in IE7 I still have issues - it displays behind other elements (parameter boxes). IE7 has a well known bug related to positioned elements and a faulty reset of their z-index. (Details are at brenelz.com/blog/squish-the-internet-explorer-z-index-bug/).

I have decided that I will only release the picker for IE8+ and Chrome etc. What I am most concerned about is any knock on effect of removing this IE7 coding from the viewer. I can test this extensively but if I miss something obscure it may cause severe issues for end users in future, no matter their browser type/edition. There is no point breaking some part of the viewer just for this date picker.

Advice from anyone with knowledge on the topic of this 'forced IE7 mode' removal would be greatly appreciated.

Jason
]]>Jason Weathersby2012-10-01T16:09:30-00:00Re: BIRT Viewer - upgrade for IE8 +https://www.eclipse.org/forums/index.php/mv/msg/388413/930015/#msg_930015
Thank you for taking the time to reply.

I had read one of those as part of my own research before posting. The hits I get searching for relevant posts all relate to issues running iFrames, but I will not be using them in my case; just the stand alone viewer via tomcat(7).

When the viewer was being developed the decision must have been made to add the emulate code because of 'x', 'y' and 'z' reasons. Are you aware of any project documentation that I can obtain to ascertain when it was added and the reason?

to the condition: if ( BrowserUtility.isIE6 || BrowserUtility.isIE7 || BrowserUtility.isIE8)

BirtExceptionDialog.js
----------------------

at lines 47 and 58 added && !BrowserUtility.isIE8

to the condition: if ( BrowserUtility.isIE && !BrowserUtility.isIE7 && !BrowserUtility.isIE8)

AbstractBaseTOC.js
------------------

at line 396 added BrowserUtility.isIE8 ||

to the condition if ( rtl &&
( BrowserUtility.isIE6 || BrowserUtility.isIE7 || BrowserUtility.isIE8 ||
BrowserUtility.isOpera || BrowserUtility.isKHTML ||
BrowserUtility.isSafari
) )]]>David Good2012-10-02T02:24:24-00:00Re: BIRT Viewer - upgrade for IE8 +https://www.eclipse.org/forums/index.php/mv/msg/388413/930788/#msg_930788
Jason]]>Jason Weathersby2012-10-02T16:44:20-00:00Re: BIRT Viewer - upgrade for IE8 +https://www.eclipse.org/forums/index.php/mv/msg/388413/932278/#msg_932278
I have loaded a couple of basic reports into the modified viewer and they view well in Chrome, FF and IE8. I will do some more testing over the next couple of days to include some charts, drill downs, drill throughs and exports etc and post any findings.

David]]>David Good2012-10-04T01:23:43-00:00Re: BIRT Viewer - upgrade for IE8 +https://www.eclipse.org/forums/index.php/mv/msg/388413/932979/#msg_932979
Any chance you could open a bugzilla entry and post your findings there?

Jason]]>Jason Weathersby2012-10-04T16:22:11-00:00Re: BIRT Viewer - upgrade for IE8 +https://www.eclipse.org/forums/index.php/mv/msg/388413/938488/#msg_938488
Yes I will do that and post the number here.